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Sunday, November 06, 2005

VA-Gov: Dirty Tricks Are a Sign of Desperation

Posted by DavidNYC

Seven of ten polls taken since October have put Tim Kaine up in the VA gov race. One of them put Kaine up 8 points - surely wrong - but must have given the Kilgore people fits anyhow. So with defeat looming, the Kilgore camp has put forth this shit:

Yep, you heard me right - this is from the Kilgore camp. To me, the biggest give-away is the fact that even when pretending to be Dems, Republicans still use the intentionally harsher-sounding word "Democrat" as an adjective instead of the proper form "Democratic."

(Inside is some crap about how "true progressives" should really be voting for independent candidate Russell Potts. Weak.)

Anyhow, this wasn't even some hack job by some anonymous dirty-tricks group from whom the campaign could distance itself. This came straight from the campaign itself:

 

Now Kilgore can waste the last days of the campaign answering questions about this flyer. Already the story is surfacing in the traditional media. Just like the despicable Hitler ads, this will backfire on Jerry Kilgore. Desperation moves have a way of doing that.

(Via mlk's diary.)

Posted at 02:18 PM in 2005 Elections, Virginia | Technorati

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Comments

The damned Democrats did it to, it turns out.

http://www.patridiots.com/002017.html

Posted by: njdem at November 6, 2005 04:59 PM | Permalink | Edit Comment | Delete Comment

New twist:

I just answered the phone to a recording that went something like this: "I'm Tim Kaine and I want you to know where I stand on the issues. I'm a Christian and my faith is important to me. I oppose abortion, and I oppose gay marriage." [both of these points expanded; I can't recall the wording]. I realized as the call went on that there was something fishy about it--it reminded me of the flyer. So I wrote down the last words: "Paid for by Honest Leadership for Virginia PAC".

I gather from a quick web search that this group has created anti-Kaine attack ads in the past.

If anyone gets a phone call that starts out this way, please RECORD IT if possible, or transcribe as closely as possible. The main point would be whether they're actually impersonating Kaine; I can't recall for 100% sure.

I just got the same call. Googled the group that paid for it, and got this.

Of course, the basic facts appear to be pretty much true.

Posted by: Kagro X at November 6, 2005 05:03 PM | Permalink | Edit Comment | Delete Comment

The thing that makes this so disgusting is that the Kilgore campaign just got finished crying about Kaine doing something similar. What makes it worse is that after whining like the Kilgore camp. does about everything they sent out this mailer.

Kilgore is desperate and its pretty clear. He's so desperate that he isn't even sure that his base is motivated enough to come out (hence the appearence of George Bush). The Kilgore campaign thinks that a Bush appearence would be good for them but the same thing can be said about its affects for Kaine. Bush's approval rating in Virginia rages from 38-42% depending on which poll you believe. Bottom line is that Bush is not popular in VA. His appearence will do as much to motivate the Democratic and fed up Independent base just as it will motivate the die hard Republicans who still approve of W.

I just came from a rally where I got to meet and shake hands with the one and only MARK WARNER here in Charlottesville. I'm feeling very optimistic about this election. All the polls show Kaine up but why he's up is more important. Virginia is no Floridia, we know which way it's usually going, but one thing is true in both states - the Independents decide the race. In polls Independents decisively favor Kaine, Democrats appear to be more loyal than Republicans for once, and appearently the percentage of people identifying themselves as Republicans has dropped here in the Commonwealth. All we can do now is vote and watch the numbers role in.

Posted by: UVA08 at November 6, 2005 07:05 PM | Permalink | Edit Comment | Delete Comment

Will the Virginia Secretary of State website be a good source of tracking the votes as they come in on Tuesday night? Some SOS websites are much better than others. If not, please let us know where we can track the votes as they pour in. I'm assuming the polls close at 7 eastern time as they usually do in Virginia.

Posted by: Mark at November 6, 2005 08:57 PM | Permalink | Edit Comment | Delete Comment